


cornelia street

by vaguelypessimistic



Series: creature of habit [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Zack/Aerith, F/M, flower shop au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:07:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25515496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaguelypessimistic/pseuds/vaguelypessimistic
Summary: Cloud hadn't intended to spend his well-deserved peace and quiet helping out at Aerith's flower shop. At least the bar next door wasn't running short of bouquets.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: creature of habit [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1898899
Comments: 18
Kudos: 115





	cornelia street

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by my love of cloud and aerith's platonic dynamic and my all-consuming obsession with this video game (plus plants).
> 
> the idea kind of just took hold of me and i wrote this small thing in the space of an afternoon. i love my soft children.

Any half-hearted hopes Cloud had of sneaking into his apartment undetected quickly proved to be for naught, as the soft tinkling of the bell above the glass-paned door with _Gainsborough Flowers_ painted onto it in delicate gold cursive gave him away.

Aerith drifted over from the counter just as he stepped across the threshold, blinking to make his eyes adjust from the darkness outside and the warmth of the shop washing over his wind-chilled skin.

She was like a fairy in a floaty pink dress at a glance, ready to greet a customer with a chipper smile and her disarming demeanour, but the serenity of the image was ruined as soon as she spotted Cloud. The warm smile stretched into a huge grin and she bounded over, launching herself at him and wrapping him in a vice-like hug that would have made him stagger backwards due to the sheer force of it had he not come to expect it.

“Cloud!” she exclaimed, then pulled back a few seconds later, wrinkling her nose. “Never mind. You’re gross and sweaty.”

They went through this all the damn time. “What did you expect?”

“That you’d have showered, like a decent person,” Aerith replied, then shoved him towards the door at the side of the shop leading up to his apartment. “Go on! Don’t even think of coming anywhere near my babies till you’re clean!” She shooed him away, just continuing to beam at his quiet scoff.

He trudged up the darkened stairs to his apartment, unlocking the door but not bothering to lock it again behind him. He’d long since given up on trying to keep Aerith from bursting into his apartment without asking, content to just let her violate his privacy. She knew his routine well enough to know when not to bother him, and knew a locked door was a bad sign. But she’d always have caught him on his way into the shop anyway to know when he needed to be left alone.

Cloud was a creature of habit. Work, toss his clothes in the wash, shower, dinner, pad downstairs to while away some time with Aerith, then crash into bed. All the while, the chatter and music from the bar next door permeated through the thin walls, now just white noise to him. He’d lived above the tiny flower shop in a tinier apartment long enough to tune it out.

When he came back downstairs in black jeans and a t-shirt, Aerith nudged a cup of tea towards him. “How was work?” she asked.

He accepted the mug with a murmur of thanks and dragged a stool to the side of the counter. “The usual,” he said.

Aerith hummed a two-tone acknowledgement, not taking her eyes off the pages of neat, loopy writing and messy sketches of flowers in front of her. “So Reno’s still a dick, huh?”

Cloud snorted softly. “You know it.”

They lapsed into comfortable silence, with Aerith’s chatter filling some of the space between them. She asked for his opinion on her bouquets and sent him traipsing around the small, narrow aisles of the shop to locate specific flowers for references.

He still maintained he didn’t know shit about flowers. Against his wishes, he was learning. Aerith had that effect on people.

At around 8pm, when the bar next door started to get busier, Aerith received a phone call.

Partly to give Aerith some privacy and partly because of a complete lack of interest, Cloud took his half-empty mug of cooled tea through to the darkened back room of the shop, where rickety shelves of plants grew under purple grow lights and the rest of Aerith’s flowers occupied every available surface. He moved some white and lilac flowers in a precarious position on the sunken armchair onto the sideboard with the teabags on it so he could sit down.

When Aerith came through the back, there was a concerned crease in her brow.

He nodded to the flowers he’d moved to sit down. “They look good,” he offered.

“Alstroemerias,” Aerith replied, distracted, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “Hey, listen, Cloud, can you watch the shop for a few hours? I just got a call from the new delivery guy I hired; he’s lost or hurt or something and I’m worried. I’m gonna go look for him.”

Cloud sat up, frowning. “You sure you wouldn’t rather I came with you?”

Aerith rested her hands on her lips, huffing. “I can take care of myself, Mr martial-arts-trainer,” she said. Some of her pep returned to her voice with the lightness of the remark, as intended. “Anyway, he thinks he’s stuck just outside of Sector 7, so I should be a couple hours, tops.”

He paused. “If you’re not back by midnight, I’m coming to look for you,” Cloud said.

“What a big softie,” Aerith teased. She grabbed her staff from where it leant against the wall. “I’ll close up when I get back, but you should be good. We won’t have many customers this late, but you’ll be fine. I know you’ve got an eye for this kind of thing!”

Cloud sighed. “Why even keep the shop open this late?”

“‘Cause that’s when the interesting customers come in, silly,” Aerith said, like it was obvious.

He made a noncommittal noise. “If you say so.”

“I do,” Aerith said resolutely. “I’ve got my phone. I’ll call you if I need help. But I bet I won’t! See ya, Cloud!” She turned on her heel and darted out of the shop. The bell chimed twice then faded to nothing, leaving Cloud in silence again.

Cloud rubbed his eyes. His entire body hurt from sparring with Zack and Rude for classes and demonstrations, so maybe it was just as well Aerith hadn’t needed him to go with her. When he mustered the strength to haul himself to his feet, he went through all of the maintenance he’d watched Aerith do like clockwork over the years; watering, pruning, swapping out wilting blooms for the fresh ones through the back.

She would float around the shop, chattering incessantly, despite his minimal responses. She’d save those dying flowers when she got back, no doubt. Her inability to let them go to waste meant the shop overflowed with the blooms for months at a time, just changing colour through the seasons. She donated them to nearby stores, houses, and an orphanage in Sector 5 a lot, but they were still taking over the shop.

He sat behind the counter with a fresh cup of tea and a heavy sigh some time later. Cloud pulled one of Aerith’s flower magazines towards himself to flick through it. If this was his new life, he might as well try to learn something.

Cloud helped two people in as many hours, both aggravated men looking for red roses to calm angry partners. He began to question Aerith’s sage knowledge about the late-night customers.

Just after eleven, the door opened and a dark-haired woman strode into the shop, a wet tea towel slung over one shoulder and a note clutched in one hand. She wasn’t looking up at Cloud. “Hey, Aerith, I just got a call about that wedding in a few months and they told me to give you this-” She faltered. “Shit. You’re not Aerith.”

“Nope,” Cloud said, attempting to slide the floral wedding arrangements magazine out of sight. “I can take a message, though.”

She exhaled. “Thank you. That’d be great. Last call is coming up, so I gotta get back.” She handed him the slip of paper. She made to leave but paused after casting him a second glance. “Hey, while I’m here, can you help me with a bouquet for the bar?”

Cloud’s brow creased. “I thought you needed to get back.”

“I do, but-” She ran a frustrated hand through her hair and sighed. “I haven’t had my break at all so I’ve been on my feet for, like, twelve hours. I just need a bit of quiet, you know?”

“Sure,” Cloud said, sliding out from behind the counter. “What’d you have in mind?”

“Something bright. The bar needs some colour.”

“Got it.”

Cloud met her eyes for a split second. They were a lovely, strange shade of wine-red. He trailed through the aisles, almost overflowing with the flowers in places, picking out what came to mind - red, white, yellow, with some greenery for variation and to fill in the spaces between the bigger blooms. After a moment, he added some white cherry blossom branches for some height, then turned back to the woman to show her the flowers he had bunched in his hands. “These good?”

“Of course. They’re beautiful,” she said.

Cloud returned to the counter, careful not to brush past her in the small space, and fumbled with the brown bouquet paper while she reached for her purse. He handed her the flowers and said, “Yeah, they are.” He wasn’t thinking of the flowers at all.

She smiled and averted her gaze. She cleared her throat. “I-I gotta get back. I’ll see you around.”

“Bye,” Cloud said vaguely. The sound of the bell chiming made him blink, as if rousing him from a trance, and he sat back onto the stool. He returned to his floral wedding arrangements magazine.

Maybe Aerith was right after all. But he’d be damned if he ever let her know that.

* * *

Aerith returned just before Cloud threatened to start looking for her, accompanied by Zack from Cloud’s gym.

Cloud blinked at him as Aerith disappeared through the back. “What are you doing here?”

Zack cast him a wave as he crossed the shop in about five strides, leaning against the counter. “I stayed late to teach self-defence with Biggs, remember?”

“Nope.”

“Stop playing hard to get,” Zack said, waving a dismissive hand. “Anyway, I was locking up and saw Aerith with her delivery guy. He got hurt trying to fight off a pack of wererats, so I drove them to the infirmary. Then I drove Aerith back here once the guy’s husband turned up to stay with him.” He lowered his voice. “You never mentioned your nosy flower girl next door neighbour was so cute.”

“That’s exactly why,” Cloud said, fixing him with a pointed look.

Zack grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. “Fair enough, I guess.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but Aerith came back through from the back room, walking very gingerly with three too-full steaming mugs of tea. Zack rushed to relieve her of two of the mugs and pulled the stool out for her.

Cloud rolled his eyes.

“Thanks, Zack!” Aerith chirped, taking the seat. “Hey, Cloud, how come I’ve never met any of your other friends till now?” Her gaze was accusing, with its tone undercut by her immediately burning her mouth on her tea.

 _Don’t really have any._ “Didn’t want you to get jealous,” he said.

Aerith laughed, light and musical, and swatted Cloud’s arm. “Anyway, did we get many customers?”

“Just three,” Cloud said. He pulled the crumpled note out of his pocket and slid it across the counter to her.

“Anyone interesting?”

Wine-red eyes strayed across his vision. The music from the bar had shut off. “Nope,” he mumbled into his mug.

Aerith cast him a knowing smile. “Sure there wasn’t,” she said, and smoothed out the paper to scan it. She set her mug to one side as she read. “Oh, hey, great! Tifa finally heard back about the wedding we’re doing in a few months! She’s on drinks and I’m on flowers for this big event so we’re joining forces to make sure we don’t clash,” she added to Zack’s blank expression.

He frowned. “Flowers and drinks can clash?”

“Of course they can!” Aerith exclaimed. “And you don’t want that on your big day, do you?”

The furrow in Zack’s brow deepened. “No?” He cast Cloud a helpless look, but he just shrugged.

“Exactly. I bet I can put together some samples in the meantime if they’re coming on Friday…” She trailed off and rose to her feet, drifting around the aisles as if in a flower-induced trance, plucking blooms at what seemed at random. Cloud knew it would come together in a stunning arrangement in a couple of minutes. It always did. He’d learnt _some_ shit about flowers over the years.

“Don’t bother,” Cloud warned Zack, who still looked stumped about flowers and drinks clashing. “She does this all the time.”

Zack roused from his stupor, tearing his gaze away from Aerith. He chuckled. “You two are close, huh?”

“Somehow. She doesn’t really give you much choice.”

Zack grinned and ruffled Cloud’s already messy hair despite his protests and half-hearted attempts to escape. Much like he had with Aerith, he’d come to accept the inevitable from Zack. “Guess I might be hanging out with you more after work now.”

Cloud sighed, long-suffering. His head hit the counter with a hollow thud.

* * *

As usual, Aerith accosted Cloud as soon as he entered the shop after work. “You’re home early!” she said brightly.

“Reno and Rude wanted to use the ring for sparring. Didn’t feel like sticking around after my last class finished.”

“‘Cause Reno’s a dick,” Aerith said flatly.

Cloud huffed a soft, amused noise. “Yep.”

When he returned back downstairs from his shower, Aerith had two steaming mugs on the counter as usual, distracted looking through her notes. “Hey, I went next door earlier and Tifa showed me the arrangement you made for the bar. It looks great! I told you you had an eye for this stuff!”

“I ain’t working for free, you know,” Cloud said, dragging his usual stool over to the side of the counter. “I charge pretty high rates.”

“Even for me?”

“Especially for you.”

Aerith hummed, unbothered. “I think your services are just about worth the fancy tea you steal from me when I’m not in the shop ‘cause you’re too scared to talk to the girl in the shop who flirts with you.”

When a guilty shadow passed over Cloud’s face, Aerith made an indignant sound and prodded him with the pen in her hand. “Cloud! I didn’t realise you were actually doing it! I was kidding!”

He shifted. “Same as you breaking into my apartment on my days off to steal my flour.”

She huffed. “I always give you some of the cakes I make.”

“That makes it even worse.”

Aerith scowled. It was hilariously non-threatening.

He suppressed a smile into his mug of tea. “You’re getting better,” he offered.

She narrowed her eyes. “That still sounds backhanded,” she accused.

Cloud just shrugged.

“Anyway, are you free this weekend? And don’t say you aren’t; I know you have Saturday off,” she added, seeing Cloud open his mouth to protest. “Can you watch the shop again? Please? I’ll be gone for like three hours to deliver some flowers to a baby shower ‘cause Taren is still recovering.”

He sipped his tea, noncommittal. “Depends. Am I getting paid?”

“In the pleasure of my company?” No response. “I’ll take you out for dinner.” Nothing. “I won’t wake you up with the fire alarm on Sunday morning.”

“Done.”

* * *

“I’m telling you, she won’t be back for at least another hour.”

Zack shrugged. “Why assume I have an ulterior motive for being here?”

Cloud cocked an eyebrow. “'Cause otherwise you’re hanging around a flower shop on a Saturday morning for no reason.” He focused on wrapping some roses for a customer.

“Yeah, fair enough,” Zack conceded. “Plus, the alternative was day drinking next door with Rude and Reno. Rude has a crush on the manager there. He’s managed to say about ten words to her so far. It’s slow progress.”

“Still progress,” Cloud said vaguely, accepting a handful of change for a fistful of daisies from a kid at the counter. Those pretty carmine eyes drifted through his mind again - Tifa, according to Aerith - but he pushed them aside.

“I guess.” Zack took Cloud’s usual seat at the side of the counter. “Biggs says there’s a new instructor starting tomorrow to teach a class. Self-defence for women. Jules is outsourcing someone part-time.”

“Makes sense. The gym is full of guys.”

“Yeah. Hey, you’re working tomorrow, right? Tell me what the instructor is like. Jules says she’s the real deal.”

“I don’t care.”

“C’mon, man.”

“How am I even going to get into a women’s self-defence class to find out?”

“You’re pretty enough to sneak in.” When Cloud made an irritated noise that often preluded violence, Zack hastened to add, “I mean just get a gauge for what she’s like, you know?”

“Get a gauge,” Cloud echoed. His eyes fell on the open magazine in front of him. “I’m not great at that.”

“Do your best,” Zack said sagely and hopped to his feet. “Hey, do you think Aerith would like some flowers?”

“Look around you.”

Zack scoffed and started to wander the aisles, studying the loose flowers arranged in racks in narrow, tilted metal buckets for display.

Cloud ignored him in favour of serving the steady stream of customers coming into the shop. Aerith couldn’t come back soon enough. Flowers, he could handle. Talking to people? Not so much.

Zack returned with a handful of flowers once the shop was quiet. “What’d you think?”

He frowned a little, adjusting the arrangement on the countertop. It wasn’t bad; soft pinks and white but with a few clashing colours that he extracted and set to one side. “Orange and purple don’t mix.” Cloud pointed to a nearby vase of lavender. “Go and get some of that. You want to stick to a colour scheme.”

Zack followed his orders without question as Cloud directed him around the shop. It didn’t compare to Aerith’s arrangements and it took longer to come together, but they soon had a passable bouquet of soft colours and delicate greenery.

“It looks great!” Zack enthused. “I hope she likes it.”

“That’ll be 150 gil.”

He balked. “You’d charge a hopeless romantic?”

“Since otherwise you’d be presenting Aerith with her own stolen flowers, yeah.”

“Fair enough.” Zack sighed and reached for his wallet.

“I also charge a consultancy fee.”

“You bastard.”

* * *

Aerith delighted over the bouquet when she returned. “Oh, the colours are so pretty!” she enthused. “I gotta put these in some water!” She took off to the sink at the other end of the shop.

“Nailed it,” Zack whispered. He held out his fist for a fist-bump, which Cloud grudgingly returned.

When he disappeared into the back room to make some tea, Aerith bounded back through and set the flowers on the counter. She lowered her voice. “Just so you know, if a customer wants a romantic bouquet, don’t use white chrysanthemums. They’re usually used at funerals. They mean death, basically.”

“I know,” Cloud said simply, going back to his wedding magazine. “I just wanted to mess with him.”

Aerith dissolved into a fit of giggles and held up her hand for a high five. She didn’t rest until Cloud accepted it.

Still, Cloud caught her staring at the bouquet, chin in her hand and distracted from the work in front of her, after Zack left later in the evening. He couldn’t believe it had worked.

* * *

_Zack Fair: mornin_

_Zack Fair: remember to be nosy about the new instructor_

_Zack Fair: for me xxx_

_Zack Fair: class is at 12_

_Cloud Strife: No promises_

_Zack Fair: you’re no fun_

_Zack Fair: as damn usual_

* * *

True to Aerith’s word, she refrained from waking Cloud up in the morning with the smell of burnt bread and the beeping of the fire alarm, so he had to drag his own heavy bones out of bed to his early shift at the gym.

Cloud had found the gym as a scrawny, hot-headed teenager just after he came to Midgar with not much more than the clothes on his back and a head full of big ideas. Jules saw some potential there, somehow, and took him in as a pseudo apprentice. Somewhere in between working odd jobs around Midgar to make ends meet for the tiny matchbox apartment he rented because it was all he could afford, he’d grown up, and Jules had taken him on as a trainer.

The classes he taught ranged from specific martial arts to standard self-defence or sparring lessons. His no-nonsense demeanour and his straightforward instructions had earned him a regular crowd of people attending his lessons or approaching him to train around the gym. Aerith might call him a grumpy hardass, but he knew what he was doing, and it showed. Fortunately, that meant he got to keep his job.

Despite his best efforts to have nothing to do with it, Cloud happened to have a break at twenty-to twelve, so Jules instructed him to show the new instructor to one of the smaller dojo-like rooms near the back of the gym for her to set up. His steps faltered when he saw the flower shop girl waiting by the doorway, in a white t-shirt and black shorts and with a gym bag slung over one shoulder. _Tifa._ He steeled himself.

When he got close, she spotted him with a small wave. “Hey. It’s Cloud, right? I’m Tifa.”

He nodded. “Yeah. How did you…?”

“Aerith,” Tifa said, her lips twitching up into a quick smirk when Cloud sighed. “We’re working a wedding together in a few months and she told me who you were when she saw the bouquet you made for the bar the other week.”

“Right.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “You’re here for the 12pm self-defence class, right?”

“Sure am. You here to show me where I’m headed?”

“Yep.” He gestured for her to follow him and she fell into step beside him. He skirted around the edge of the main area of the gym, dominated by the sparring ring with weight stations and other exercise machines scattered around its edges. Clashes of metal and loud voices made it almost impossible for him to hear himself think sometimes, but he wasn’t losing a chance to have a conversation with Tifa. “How are the flowers doing?”

“They look great!” Tifa said brightly. “I’m surprised they’re still alive, honestly. But they’re going pretty strong and the regulars love them. They look really good behind the bar. A bit of brightness, you know?”

“That’s Aerith,” Cloud said. “She’s good with flowers. I just put them together.”

“Well, they’re great either way. I might have to keep coming back for more.”

Cloud shrugged, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He felt like that prickly teenager all over again, with a pretty girl rendering him speechless. “Aerith’s the expert. She’ll help you out.” He missed how Tifa’s expression faltered a little.

“So you work for Aerith too, then?”

“Nah, I just live above the shop. I was watching the shop for her when I saw you.”

“That’s sweet of you,” Tifa said. She paused when Cloud held open the door for her to the small room in which her first lesson would take place. “Hey, is that ring back there available for trainers to use too?”

“Yeah. Jules puts on tournaments sometimes. Says it’s good for morale around the gym.”

“Well, would you be up for a match later today? If you have time, that is.” Tifa ran a hand through her hair. “I’m a little worried I’m going to be rusty for the one-on-one training sessions I have later this week, so I could use someone to practise with beforehand.”

Cloud nodded. “Sure. I’m free at around 2pm, so just come find me.”

“Great! I’ll see you then. And thanks for showing me around.”

“No problem. Good luck.” When the door shut behind Tifa, he rested his forehead against the wall with a soft groan. As much as part of him thrilled at the chance to spend more time with her, a much bigger part of him dreaded the increased number of opportunities to say something stupid to a pretty girl.

No way in hell was Zack getting his honest “gauge” of Tifa.

* * *

True to her word, Tifa found him by the ring in the centre of the gym at around 2pm just as Cloud was tightening his shoelaces on the bench.

“Hey,” she said, setting a pair of gloves and some other protective equipment on the bench beside him. “You good to go?”

“Yep,” he said, putting in his mouthguard and securing his gloves. “First to five?” The sound was muffled through the hard plastic.

Tifa grinned. “Sounds good.”

* * *

_Zack Fair: well???????????? whats she like???????????????????_

_Zack Fair: answer me dumbass_

_Cloud Strife: Can and will beat you to a pulp_

_Zack Fair: nice_

* * *

Cloud was a creature of habit. Tifa became a part of his routine as easy as breathing - so easy that he didn’t even notice how much had changed in a few short months until he was flat on his back in the gym sparring ring trying to get his breath back rather than at the shop with Aerith.

Aerith, for her part, was thrilled; she’d needled Cloud in the past about being more sociable with limited (zero) results.

Zack had managed to endear himself enough to Aerith for her to accept when he asked her out, so he became an almost constant presence around the shop as well. Regardless of whether he was at the gym or not, Cloud couldn’t exactly leave his work life separate from his home life now, because his work life had all but moved in opposite him.

He didn’t see Tifa anywhere but the gym, but that hardly mattered since he practically lived there even before he met her. He found himself picking up more shifts when he knew she was working for an excuse to spend time with her, since she often sought him out and he almost always backed out when he tried to force himself to do the same.

Rude, for his part, had chosen to ignore Reno’s advice of showing off to Tifa to impress her in the face of his lacking ability to speak to her. Smart, considering Reno had chosen to demonstrate the alleged effectiveness of this technique by challenging Cloud to a sparring match at the busiest time of day and had his ass thoroughly kicked with all the tricks that Cloud had learnt from sparring hand-to-hand with Tifa.

Cloud hadn’t been able to bring himself to give Rude advice on how to talk to Tifa, and he knew fine well why. He tried to push the feeling aside.

As she was wont to do, Tifa poked her head around the door of the room in which Cloud had taught his last session. She waved and made small talk with some of the gym goers that she knew from the group as they filed out of the room, waiting for Cloud to shove the floor mats into a hasty pile in the corner of the room.

“You up for a few rounds still?” she asked, leaning against the wall. A thin sheen of sweat pricked her skin, highlighting the smooth planes of muscles-

Cloud wrenched his gaze back to his equipment, rummaging through his bag for his gloves. “Sure thing. I’ll grab my gear. You get set up.”

“Great. See you in a minute.”

When the door shut behind her, Cloud exhaled. Being around Tifa in her gym gear was its own exquisite kind of torture.

 _“Just say something to her, Cloud,”_ Aerith had said, like it was the simplest thing in the world, after she noticed Cloud staring when Tifa came to the shop to celebrate after the wedding she and Aerith collaborated on. He’d never been great with words.

He found Tifa on the bench once he’d composed himself. The air in the main room of the gym was much cooler than the stuffy, sweaty room in which Cloud’s classes had taken place and he relished the air conditioning as he walked across the room.

She tapped his shoulder with one of her gloves when he sat down. “What are we up to now?”

“Eleven-ten to you, I think,” Cloud said, pulling a face.

Tifa hummed. “You’re catching up.”

The twitch of the corner of his mouth was almost a smile. “You had an advantage. Sparring is more your thing.”

“That’s exactly why I set the challenge,” she said lightly. “You don’t choose odds you know you’ll lose.”

“Rules for life on the ground floor?” He adjusted his gloves. They were lighter than boxing gloves, exposing his fingers for better grip.

“Just for life in general, too.”

Cloud made a soft noise of agreement and rose to his feet. “True.” He held open the ropes for her to step through and followed suit.

Jules called a couple of the muscleheads in the gym he was training over to watch the match, as he always did. Said it helped knock some overtrained egos back down to size. He took his role at the side of the ring to referee and called for the first round to start.

Tifa hit hard and moved fast; so fast, in fact, that she’d already got in close and hit Cloud several times before he could even react when they first started their free-for-alls. She darted in and out of his reach like a bolt of lightning. Through their frequent matches, he’d learnt how to use her mistakes to his advantage. He moved slower, but he hit harder, and he could use her feints and kicks and tricks against her.

He pulled victory out from under her feet at the last second. Seeing an opening, with one of Tifa’s kicks landing her a little off-balance, he darted in close and grabbed her. He threw her to the ground over his head, a foot on her hip as he flung himself back down onto the floor of the ring in a judo-style throw, then pinned her to the ground.

She struggled against his grip but he was stronger like this, able to use his weight, and she went limp just after Jules called time on the round. She tapped his shoulder and he let her go, sitting back on his haunches as she sat up.

“Cloud, you’re two points up. Good job,” Jules said. The small crowd cheered.

“Finally evened the score,” Tifa said, rising to her feet and resting her hands on her hips as she caught her breath.

Cloud forced himself to look away, wiping his forehead with the hem of his shirt to give himself anything to do but stare. “Wasn’t gonna take long,” he said, muffled into the thin fabric.

Tifa laughed. “C’mon, let’s go home. I really need a shower.” She beckoned for him to follow her out of the ring.

He did, like the lost puppy he was.

* * *

From the back room of the shop, Aerith called, “Cloud, can you deliver these flowers?”

“You _have_ a delivery guy.”

“He’s off today! Besides, it’s just to Tifa. Next door.”

He sighed. “Fine.”

“You’re the best!” Aerith came through with a bouquet in a similar vein to the one Cloud had made for Seventh Heaven a few months prior, but more intricate and just nicer.

“Who’s it from?” he asked, his stomach dropping. He leant over the counter to look at the label on it, which was blank.

Aerith had that _glint_ in her eye. He rued the day he allowed Aerith and Zack to join forces to torture him. “Why don’t you say it’s from you?”

Cloud scowled, setting aside what he was reading aside as firmly as a man could slam down a magazine titled _Seasonal Daisy Arrangements_. “Nope,” he said, taking the bouquet from Aerith and rising to his feet.

“Cloud!”

“I’m leaving.” The tone of his exit was somewhat undermined by the light, musical tinkling of the bell above the door.

Despite having lived next door to it for years, Cloud hadn’t ever been into Seventh Heaven until a few months ago. He’d never had reason to; he spent his free time either with Aerith or asleep until very recently.

Mercifully, the bar was quiet, and just Tifa serving. She looked up when the door opened and confusion flashed across her face at the sight of him, her brow creasing.

Cloud was certain his cheeks were _burning._ “They’re not from me,” he said, too quickly, as he put the flowers down on the bar.

“What a shame,” Tifa teased, leaning across the bar. She picked the flowers up and smiled. “Who are they from, then?”

“Don’t know,” he admitted. “Aerith just told me to deliver them. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

“Well, they’re gorgeous, so make sure you thank whoever they’re from for me if you find out.” There was a twinkle in her warm eyes. Cloud didn’t have a clue what it meant. “I’ll go put these in some water. Stay for a drink?”

“Sure,” he said, taking a seat at the bar. If his suspicions were correct, Aerith had no right to be mad at him. “I’ll take something strong and bitter.”

“Like you?”

Cloud sighed, unable to hold back a smile despite himself. “Like me,” he echoed, resigned, but was infinitely pleased with Tifa’s laugh.

* * *

Bouquets for Tifa kept appearing.

Aerith always insisted that Cloud deliver them. Asshole.

* * *

At around eight o’clock, just after the chatter and music from next door started to pick up, the bell above the door of the shop tinkled. Cloud looked up to see Tifa wave at him from the door, shutting it softly behind her. She was in her usual black shorts and white t-shirt. She’d started to come around to the shop to see Cloud and Aerith when she had a free moment, accompanied by Zack more often than not. “You watching the shop tonight, then?” she asked.

Cloud nodded, returning back to Aerith’s notes on flower arrangements. He chewed his lip and pushed a steaming mug of Aerith’s fancy tea towards Tifa. “It’s date night. Not like I had anything much better to do anyway, so.”

“Aerith really appreciates your help, you know,” Tifa said, dragging a stool to the side of the counter.

He made a noncommittal noise. “I don't know about that. I’m here tonight because she says I owe her a favour for putting up with Zack’s terrible flirting.”

Tifa laughed. “How is that your fault?”

“I work with him. He’s my responsibility, apparently,” Cloud said. “Are you not working tonight?”

“Nope. A Tuesday is never busy so Jessie and Wedge told me to take the night off. They can handle it.”

“Probably for the best,” Cloud said. He closed the leather-bound book and pushed it to one side, his mind reeling with ideas and his stomach churning from a mixture of nerves and proximity to Tifa with her bright, warm gaze. “Between the bar and the gym, I’m surprised you have time to sleep.”

“I cut it fine sometimes,” Tifa admitted. “But I love it, so it’s okay.” She smirked. “Anyway, with your deliveries to the bar, you’re pretty busy yourself.” She laughed when Cloud groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“It’s not me,” he mumbled for what felt like the hundredth time, muffled into his hands.

She smiled, watching him with her chin in her hand. “But you’re an expert by now, right?”

“I know some stuff,” he admitted, running a hand through his hair. “Aerith doesn’t really give you much choice.”

“‘Cause you’re good at flowers, like it or not.” Tifa rose to her feet. “C’mon. Help me pick something out for the bar! It looked so good last time.”

Cloud arched an eyebrow. “Have you not got enough flowers in there by now?”

“No such thing,” Tifa said, flashing him another smile that made his chest flip. “And not ones that you picked out, no.”

He sighed and followed Tifa. “Fine. What’d you have in mind?”

Tifa tapped her chin as she thought. “Something romantic.”

 _Gods help me._ Cloud closed his eyes for a beat, drawing a steadying breath, and rubbed the back of his neck. “Not sure I’m your guy for that.”

“I think you might be.” That twinkle in her eye was back.

He chewed his lip as he thought, ghosting around the shop as Aerith would, conscious of Tifa’s eyes on him. He racked his brains to think of anything but roses, as his proximity to Tifa seemed to have short-circuited it, but they were still a good place to start. He plucked out roses, lilies, tiny daisies, alstroemerias, in light shades of pink, lilac, and white. He fumbled with some greenery to add some height and variation to the arrangement, gathering the stalks in his hands as best as he could.

Cloud turned around to show Tifa the flowers in his hands. “This good?”

“They’re beautiful, Cloud.” Her voice was barely more than a breath.

He cleared his throat, fumbling with a rubber band to gather them together as Tifa brushed past him.

“What are these?” Her thumb and forefinger brushed over the pale petals of a small yellow flower, something quite like a daffodil or a daisy but not quite either.

“I don’t know,” Cloud admitted. “They’re Aerith’s pride and joy, though. Calls them her babies.”

“I’ve never seen them before,” Tifa murmured, plucking one from its vase. “They’re gorgeous.” She turned back to him. “What do they mean?”

Cloud swallowed. “Reunion of lovers,” he said.

The quiet between them was heavy with unspoken words. Cloud barely dared to breathe. He definitely didn’t dare look away from Tifa, with that something warm and wonderful about her eyes, the colour of the roses behind her. The flowers almost overflowed around them and they were almost too close - too close, if it wasn’t to Tifa.

His feet crossed the space between them without his brain telling them to move. Tifa’s feather-light touch on his bare arm set his skin alight. He was sure she could hear his heart hammering. 

Her breath hitched when he leaned in a little bit closer, and it made all sense - and with it, his doubts - fly straight out of his mind.

Cloud cast the flowers aside just as Tifa’s arms moved to wrap around his neck, pulling her flush against his front. They started gentle, uncertain, peppering each other’s lips with soft kisses, until they fit together with no room to breathe between them.

Tifa pressed in closer. Months of tension dissipated in the lack of space between them, with soft sighs and gasps for breath filling it instead. She tasted of spearmint and smelled of lavender and she pulled him impossibly closer as their kiss deepened.

When they broke apart, Cloud leant his forehead against hers, his breathing shaky. His head spun. He didn’t dare open his eyes, in case-

Her warm hand cupped his cheek and his eyes flew open, meeting her soft gaze. Her eyes were darkened. She was real. She was here. They stayed in each other’s space for what could have been hours, till a loud clatter next door caused Cloud to recoil and Tifa to wince.

“There goes my glassware,” she muttered, her chest still heaving, casting a dark glance at the shared wall with the bar. Tifa sighed and held up the slightly crushed flower to him. “For you,” she said.

Cloud chuckled, low and strangled. “Aerith will kill us if she sees we hurt one of her babies.”

Tifa hummed a two-tone agreement. “Guess we better flee the scene of the crime, huh?”

“I live upstairs,” Cloud said, then panicked when his brain caught up to his mouth. “I mean-I-”

“Cloud,” Tifa interrupted. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want this, too.”

He exhaled. Forced his brain to work. _It’s okay._ He reached down and plucked the discarded bouquet from the floor. He offered it to Tifa. “For you,” he echoed.

“You’ve outdone me with these,” Tifa said, accepting the flowers with a smile.

Cloud thought for a second, then tucked the slightly crushed flower in his hand into the centre of the arrangement.

“Never mind. Now it’s perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> the only martial art i know remotely anything about is judo and even that is pushing it. please do not come for me.
> 
> hope you enjoyed! come say hi on tumblr at fangvanguard


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